The Chronicles of Desperation: A Cookbook

Recipes for the study abroad student who only has access to a microwave, a stovetop, one skillet, and a very limited selection of groceries:

Saudi bread pizza:

1 panatha bread, frozen

½ cup mozzarella cheese

1 medium tomato, sliced

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2  tsp garlic powder

2 tsp Italian spices (basil, oregano)

Steps:
1) take frozen panatha bread and heat it in warm skillet for two to three minutes (turning it over when appropriate)
2) when properly cooked, place on a plate and brush olive oil onto bread
3) top with mozzarella and tomato slices
4) sprinkle Italian spices and garlic powder
5) place in microwave for 30-40 seconds until cheese is melted.

Grilled Eggplant Sandwich

1 medium eggplant, sliced   

2 tbsp olive oil (to fry in pan) + Italian spices (garlic, oregano, basil)

1-1/2 tbsp mayonnaise (to spread on sandwich)

1 small Italian bread

Side of chips

Steps:
1) In pan, fry eggplant in olive oil (meanwhile adding Italian spices while it cooks) for 4-5 minutes
2) When tender, place eggplant slices in Italian bread slices (either put mayo in before eggplant or after, it's up to you)
3) add side of chips

 Italian Egg sandwich:

3 eggs

1 tsp pepper

2 tsp Italian spices (basil, oregano, garlic) 

1 Italian bread

Steps:
1) Stir eggs in a small bowl
2) Add pepper and Italian spices in bowl
3) Pour bowl of eggs into a frying pan (heat stove on medium)
4) Scramble eggs and add more pepper and garlic
5) When cooked, place in Italian bread

            Side dish:

Breaded and lightly fried eggplant

Ingredients:

1 medium eggplant cut into ¼ inch slices

1 egg (stirred in a bowl)

½ cup breadcrumbs (if possible, Italian breadcrumbs . . . if not add a generous helping of basil, oregano, garlic) on a plate

Steps:
1) Dip eggplant slices in egg
2) Place "egged" eggplant slices in bread crumbs
3) Heat olive oil in a skillet, and proceed to place breaded eggplant slices into skillet
4) Cook for 4-5 minutes, turning over slices every minute or so

What else do I eat?: 

A little bit of this

A little bit of that

                                          It's better than Nutella

And a lot of this: 

Turkey: It's not just a bird

Does anyone object to my writing about Turkey in a blog called "Ari in Egypt"? If you don't mind, that's exactly what I will be doing in less than a week. :)

After finding out that I actually have a five day weekend for Egyptian armed forces day, I spontaneously planned an entire trip to Istanbul (not Constantinople) by myself. YES, by myself. Everyone should calm down, though, because my hotel has arranged for my airport pickup, and I will be touring the old city and going on a four-hour cruise on the Black Sea with a tour group. I will also be going to a Turkish bath (sounds sketchy, I know) to sit in a hot tub the day after I arrive. Getting away from Egypt and experiencing another culture will improve my morale and bolster my ability to get by for the next two and a half months in Egypt. Hopefully I will get there and back with no problems (worries which plague my restless mind).

Planning this escape was the highlight of my week, and now the complaining will commence:

The reason that I have not written a blog entry for a few days is that there have been rolling blackouts across the city. Somehow, the outages screwed up the server so that I was not able to get online until a few hours after the power went back on. Even the entire AUC campus was blacked out for two hours, which made it very difficult for me to retrieve an essay that I sent to myself by e-mail. Thus, I barely made the deadline. (The teacher for that class is a psycho, and she most likely would not have considered the blackouts an excuse.)

Lack of sleep has also been a problem for me, because I barely got to rest last weekend, and I have been subsisting on five to six hours of sleep a night for the last two weeks. I literally felt like I was going to pass out in class on Wednesday. Therefore, I made the decision to opt out of an excursion to Mt. Sinai and St. Catherine's monastery. I learned that we would be leaving Thursday night on an overnight bus trip that would then drop us off at St. Catherine's, and later at 2:00 am we would start the two to three hour hike up the mountain to see the sunrise. I was really looking forward to this trip. However, my health is most important to me, and I thought about the sleep that I have already lost, plus the two nights I probably would not sleep on that trip, plus the two days of school that would follow, and then add on the four days in Istanbul. Also, for those of you who know me, I am not a hiker and I was not ready to re-enact my own private version of Troop Beverly Hills in the middle of the night in the Egyptian desert. All of these factors were part of my decision, and I don't regret it. The timing was just not right, though it is disappointing that I couldn't go.

Other complaints that I will keep brief:

1) No hot water for the last week and half. Though this problem is undermined by the fact that the temperature continues to be in the upper 90's.

2) I ordered a lunch that I thought would be a platter of falafel, ful (refried beans), eggs, and french fries only to discover that the meal was all of those items squished into a pita. It was truly revolting.

3) My bus driver didn't feel like running the 2:00p.m. route from school, so I had to wait another hour to go home.

4) The travel office at AUC could not even help me figure out how to arrange transport from my apartment to the Cairo airport for Tuesday.

Highlights that are worth mentioning (to counterbalance the complaints):

1) At the CSA (expat community center) I enjoyed a pasta dinner with WINE on Wednesday. The wine was truly delicious, but then I remembered that I had to walk all the way back to my apartment in the heat. Perhaps it was not the best idea, but it was a little slice of heaven.

2) I am about to sign up for a Thanksgiving trip with the CSA to the Bahariya oasis (a resort area) and the White desert. According to the brochure, the trip includes a bedouin night, swimming, a Thanksgiving party, a safari in the desert, and watching the sunset on a mountain that I don't have to climb. The price is reasonable for a three day trip, so I think that I will sign up.

3) I'm a rockstar in my Arabic class. This is probably because I am one of the only people who does homework, but I feel good about outshining people from better ranked institutions. It just goes to show that it doesn't matter where you go to school, it's what you make of it. Also, it shows that Lawrence is a first class institution of higher education, even if it does not have a widespread reputation.

4) Egypt turns the clocks back for "fall back" on October 1st, so I gained an hour of sleep this weekend.

That's about it for now. I have assuaged my guilt about not keeping up my blog, and now I will go to sleep. Goodnight.

Happy Eid!

Today ended on a high note, because I have a four day weekend thanks to Eid! So, I thought I would engage in some random musings . . .
I want to be more optimistic in this post, so I will tell everyone what I really like about Egypt, because I spend many of my waking hours complaining to family and friends about how crazy and strange it is.

Likes:
1) The people. Despite a few bad representations of the Egyptian populace (taxi drivers, perverts, taxi drivers who are perverts), I find that upon getting to know Egyptians, they are a very warm, engaging, and hospitable people. Example 1: I went to the AUC bookstore to purchase school supplies, but I realized that I didn't have the right change. The bookstore owner kindly told me to take the items that I had not purchased and bring the correct change later.

2) The pace. Egyptian time is different from American time. Appointments are suggestions, and everyone is more relaxed about deadlines. As a result,I feel less stressed.

3) The cats. I pass at least ten cats every morning on my way to the bus.

4) The trees and flowers. My whole street is lined with twisty, brambly trees that are abloom with pink blossoms.

5) The weather. Although the temperature is hovering around 92-95 degrees during the day, there is very low humidity, and the weather will be perfect from October through December.

6) Affordability. I can afford luxuries like home delivery of groceries, taxi cab rides, and restaurant dining on a regular basis. I can also have a nice two bedroom apartment in a swanky area of Cairo on my meager student savings.

7) The adventure. Every weekend for the next month I get to go on an excursion to an amazing place: The Citadel, Islamic Cairo, the Egyptian royal palaces, Saqqara, and Mt. Sinai.

8) Books. My class schedule allows me time to enjoy reading, something I don't regularly do at Lawrence (besides class texts).

My life is so much more interesting here than in Appleton. I hang my laundry out to dry, hear the eery call to prayer five times a day, get into ridiculous situations with taxi drivers, getting lost, snobby students, rabid dogs, pushy vendors, and street harassment. I'm not saying I love every minute of it, but I know that this is a formative experience, even if a lot of it is negative.
My kitchen sink makes a loud pitched noise every time I turn it on, and I am terrified of my stove which I have to light manually before using. There are piles of garbage on the sidewalk(not exaggerating on this one folks) that I have to either step over or avoid (whilst almost getting hit by cars) on my way to the bus, and there are beggars everywhere. Plus, there is a never ending supply of flies. I certainly chose an exciting and amazing place to study abroad. :D


Here's me. I'm a bit tanner, thinner, and maybe more Arabic looking? I've gotten some men on street corners asking me "Arabiya? Arabiya?". Calm down, boys . . . lol.